82. Ginger

Day 82. Ginger

     Been thinking about my cousin, Jen, lately. We have been close for as long as I can remember, and we are very much alike. We understand each other. We understand what it is like to go through life being us. We are very fun, and we love to laugh. We love to dance. We love to tell stories. Not tall tales or made up stories. But real stories. About us. And our lives. Our entire extended family is like that. More than half the conversation at every family gathering is everyone taking turns telling funny stories. I love that about our family.

     I was thinking back to when I was a kid...I would get so excited every time Jen would come visit. Visits from Jen meant fun, laughter, adventure, and girl time. I think that spending time with Jen is when I learned to value and appreciate girl time. My sister and I would pile into whatever car she was driving at the time. We would blast whatever cool music Jen was listening to, and we would just drive. Most of the time to get something to eat. I remember one such drive...we were all starving. None of us had any money except pennies, nickels, dimes, and some quarters. We found an empty Biore box in her car, and we proceeded to fill it with all our loose change, and any change we found on the floor of the car. We managed somehow to get around $5.00 in that box, and we went to McDonalds. We ordered a bunch of stuff off the dollar menu, and when we pulled around to the drive-through window, we just handed the cashier the Biore box. And we sped off, laughing hysterically.

     I remember another time Jen came to visit, we went to the mall. We kind of just looked around, and of course...got something to eat. (Our entire family comes from a long line of people who deeply love food.) We were sitting in the food court eating ice cream from Dairy Queen, I think, when we spotted a mother and daughter at a nearby table. The daughter, a very young girl, was bald. She had cancer, we suspected. We sat there, disturbed by the notion that such a young child could be so sick. We sat there for a few minutes maybe, then Jen said she had an idea. We walked up to the mother and daughter, and Jen bent down, and asked the mother if she could buy her daughter an ice cream cone. The mother smiled, and said, "of course." So, Jen and I walked to Dairy Queen, and ordered a cone for the little girl. When Jen handed the little girl the ice cream cone, she said something along the lines of, "I thought this would make you smile."

     Fast forward to a couple years ago...we went to a family bbq, and when I saw Jen, my jaw dropped. Jen, who has always had longer hair...except for a few years worth of short bob cuts...had a very, very short haircut. Basically, a pixie cut, although it had started to grow out when I saw her. Of course, she looked awesome with the short cut. She has always been a gorgeous girl. I asked her what made her cut her hair so short, and she told me something that deserves telling: she was cutting a client's hair who had cancer. The client was upset because her hair was falling out. I think Jen said it was when the client started crying that she grabbed a huge pair of scissors, pulled her own hair up in the air, and cut. Jen cut her entire head of hair off for that client. And she said that the client started smiling and laughing.

     Jen is an amazing woman. She always has been. She has always been so unselfish, and kind. To complete strangers, even. And I think, she was put on this earth to make people smile. She's good at it. Thankful that I have Jen in my life.